As requested by city leaders, Baldwin citizens showed up Tuesday evening for the city’s budget town hall meeting. The meeting was scheduled to be held in the community room in city hall. So many residents showed up, the crowd exceeded the allowable occupancy for the room. Mayor Stephanie Almagno was advised by the Code Compliance officer and Fire Chief the meeting would have to be moved, resulting in the meeting being moved outside.
With chairs in hand, approximately 80 people moved to the parking lot at the rear of the building.
The meeting was not held to discuss the budget specifically, but rather, how to pay for it. After the most recent round of cuts, the city is facing a budget deficit of $891,615.
Almagno told the attendees that the meeting’s purpose was to discuss services, specifically how many services residents want, at what level they want those services, and the impacts of cuts or decreases to city services.
Cost increases
Almagno explained to residents that one contributing factor to the deficit was increased costs for services. Those increases amounted to $332,132, making up 37.2% of the deficit.
Of that amount, employee health insurance premiums increased $129,825. Legal fees increased $35,000. Information technology increased $36,670. The city will incur a cost of $47,837 for the new public safety radios due to the new 911 radio system going live later this year. Liability and casualty insurance increased $10,400. A cost of living raise for employees will cost the city $70,000. The only increase that was unknown was the state requirement for certified court interpreters.
Also the funding mechanisms used last year to balance the budget are not available this year, according to Chief Administrative Officer Emily Woodmaster. Those mechanisms were fund balance, or reserve funds from prior year(s) and reserve funds from the enterprise fund.
Consolidation
One service that numerous citizens discussed more than others was the fire service. Many agreed that the service is expensive and the city should explore consolidating with another fire department. One person suggested developing a co-op for the fire service with Cornelia that could result in shared costs between the two cities.
Some residents were open to the idea of consolidation or creating a co-op for fire service in the coming future as a cost saving measure.
It was also suggested that the city consider consolidating its police department. However, Chief Chris Jones told the audience that code compliance citations and city ordinance violations could not be heard in state court, only in municipal court. Code compliance was a service discussed at a similar town hall meeting held at Life Church four years ago.
Audit
Kerrie Rice addressed the concern of mistrust with city officials. Her concern was what was the real cost that had to be overcome.
She also addressed the fact that the city did not have 2024 numbers. “We don’t even have 2024 numbers, we’re half way through 2025,” Rice said. “You’re talking about the coffers are empty, well the coffers are empty because we’re working on numbers that are two years old.”
After nearly two hours of discussion, there was no definitive plan for what services would be cut or decreased, nor was there a clear plan for how to pay for the budget deficit. With a June 30 deadline fast approaching for an approved budget, Baldwin may not be able to avoid a significant tax increase this year.
Over the coming weeks, the city council will hold several budget hearings to seek further input from residents.
